Rupert Murdoch eyes LAT, mulls Wall Street Journal name change

A story in today’s Wall Street Journal says Rupert Murdoch “has long eyed titles such as the Los Angeles Times, whose parent company, Tribune Co., is due to emerge from bankruptcy in coming months.” But Murdoch tells his paper that an LAT deal would have to be looked at “closely” because of regulatory restrictions, among other things.

He also told CNBC’s David Faber that he might change the Wall Street Journal’s name to simply WSJ. (The Journal’s Charles Forelle tweeted the news and got this reaction from followers: “Say it isn’t so!” and “I don’t get it.”)

When asked by analysts about his papers’ future, Mr. Murdoch replied: “The answer is one word: digital.” He said the new company would double down on its digital efforts and that news was “the most valuable commodity in the world” even if “people are buying fewer papers printed on crushed wood.”

Murdoch also said on CNBC that “I’ll head the [News Corp.] board until they bury me.” The 81-year-old media mogul added: “I’m not saying that day is any time soon. I’m in great shape, and, obviously, if I’m lucky enough to live a long time, a very long time, there will be a time when I’ll slow down mentally, and I’ll have to get out.”